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"Lone Survivor" seals top spot at box office

This photo released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Taylor Kitsch, as Michael Murphy, Mark Wahlberg as Marcus Luttrell, Ben Foster as Matt "Axe" Axelson and Emile Hirsch as Danny Dietz in a scene from the film "Lone Survivor."

The Universal film directed by
"Friday Night Lights" and "Battleship" filmmaker Peter Berg
is based on Marcus Luttrell's memoir about a dangerous mission his Navy SEAL
team embarked on in Afghanistan in 2005.

"We're thrilled for us, the
filmmakers and Marcus, who -- as brave as a man as he is -- continues to be
brave in telling this true story," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution
for Universal. "It's an amazing result. What's most gratifying about this
is that it's been endorsed by every quadrant of the movie-going audience:
young, old, male, female."

Rocco said "Lone Survivor"
performed particularly well in middle America. The movie's launch marks the
second biggest opening for a film in January, after the $40.1 million debut of
the monster movie "Cloverfield" in 2008.

"We had an inkling it'd do well
when it opened in limited release in December, but projections had it coming in
between $17 million to $28 million," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media
analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "Nothing had it coming close to
$40 million."

In its eighth weekend, Disney's icy
animated tale "Frozen" stayed cool in the No. 2 spot, earning $15
million and bringing its domestic total to $317 million, passing Disney
Animation's $312 million record set by "The Lion King" in 1994.
"Frozen" also topped the international box office with $27.8 million
from 50 international markets.

Paramount's controversial "The Wolf of Wall Street" scored No. 3 in its third weekend, earning $9 million
and boosting its total domestic haul to $78.6 million. The hedonistic tycoon
drama directed by Martin Scorsese stars Leonardo DiCaprio as reckless stock
broker Jordan Belfort. The film earned an additional $10 million from 17
international territories.

Lionsgate's "The Legend of
Hercules," the weekend's only other major release, tied Sony's "American
Hustle" for the No. 4 position, with both films earning $8.6 million,
according to studio estimates.

"American Hustle," whose
domestic total now stands at $101.5 million, also earned an extra $5.2 million
this weekend from four international territories. The con-artist caper leads
the nominees at Sunday's Golden Globes alongside "12 Years a Slave" with seven nods each.

Several other awards contenders
expanded into wide release this weekend ahead of the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association's glitzy ceremony, including the Weinstein Co.'s "August:
Osage County" at No. 6 with $7.3 million, Warner Bros.' "Her" at
No. 10 with $5.4 million and CBS Films' "Inside Llewyn Davis" at No.
14 with $1.9 million.

Overseas, Universal's animated sequel
"Despicable Me 2" earned $13.8 million alone in China, where it
opened this weekend seven months after its initial release. The original
animated film featuring the voice of Steve Carrell was not released in China.